What is the difference between “expose” and “publish” in Docker?

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Basically, you have three options:

  1. Neither specify EXPOSE nor -p
  2. Only specify EXPOSE
  3. Specify EXPOSE and -p

1) If you specify neither EXPOSE nor -p, the service in the container will only be accessible from inside the container itself.

2) If you EXPOSE a port, the service in the container is not accessible from outside Docker, but from inside other Docker containers. So this is good for inter-container communication.

3) If you EXPOSE and -p a port, the service in the container is accessible from anywhere, even outside Docker.

The reason why both are separated is IMHO because:

  • choosing a host port depends on the host and hence does not belong to the Dockerfile (otherwise it would be depending on the host),
  • and often it’s enough if a service in a container is accessible from other containers.

The documentation explicitly states:

The EXPOSE instruction exposes ports for use within links.

It also points you to how to link containers, which basically is the inter-container communication I talked about.

PS: If you do -p, but do not EXPOSE, Docker does an implicit EXPOSE. This is because if a port is open to the public, it is automatically also open to other Docker containers. Hence -p includes EXPOSE. That’s why I didn’t list it above as a fourth case.

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